New to the CUCV world.

[cucvrus]

After seeing somebody's solenoid fail on the CUCV Facebook groups I went ahead and did the doghead relay mod...

I can sleep better....

Like saying after I seen a bullet hole in the door of a CUCV M1009 I went full armor on my M1009 and darn if I might get shot when I open the door to get out. The stock relay was great for over 35 years. And now this made it better how? Lots of open positive connections under a fully negative steel dashboard. Replace defective parts as needed and keep the starting, batteries and everything else in top notch and the starter relay will not fail. 35 27 years and I never had one fail. Good Luck.

 

[uh_salt_rifle]

Like saying after I seen a bullet hole in the door of a CUCV M1009 I went full armor on my M1009 and darn if I might get shot when I open the door to get out. The stock relay was great for over 35 years. And now this made it better how? Lots of open positive connections under a fully negative steel dashboard. Replace defective parts as needed and keep the starting, batteries and everything else in top notch and the starter relay will not fail. 35 27 years and I never had one fail. Good Luck.

Since it was posted as a common modification at the top of the forum i figured this is was problem a lot of people have ran into and there was a fix.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

Well, there have been enough of them that it is considered A Well Known Problem.

But then, some people never have a problem. What's up with that?

My theory is that GM got a bad batch of relays out there that didn't last, and so some people got burned.

And, since CUCVRus is known for being meticulous about maintenance, it's not surprising that he has not seen this problem.

I've done the mod myself, for the same reason that you did. But I've looked into it a lot more now, and I would not do it again. If my GP relay ever fails, I'll pull the doghead relay from under the dash and use it for my GPs (same relay) and replace the starter relay with a good quality 20 or 30 amp standard automotive relay, with insulated terminals. That circuit only draws 9 amps, so a 100 amp relay is massive overkill.

And there's also the fact that some people have had the same problem AFTER doing the doghead mod.

That makes me think the real problem lies elsewhere, and the doghead mod is masking it.

 

[cucvrus]

Like anything. Fix the problem that is causing the failure. Don't redesign the relay so you can crank the engine longer and harder on weak battery's. I had Fords solenoids stuck also. The hammer worked best in a pinch. I just like to NOT cut wiring harnesses and have been doing reverse transformations whenever I get one that has the hacked relay. The M1010 has several of them same relays in the body control panel. Are they a failure area also? Good Luck. That is where I harvest the plug blocks from when I need them.

 

[uh_salt_rifle]

Well this truck is definitely a learning experiment for me. I see what you're saying. I appreciate the knowledge.

This will be an adventure at each step of its progression.